Foundation garment



P 1964 c. L. MARTIN 3,149,634

FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed June 26, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fi Go 40 INVENTOR LTZQP/E l. MflET/N P 1964 c. L. MARTIN FOUNDATION GARMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 26. 1961 INVENTOR. CflEQ/E L. Mnernv BY W 214112!) flrraelvsy.

United States Patent F 3,149,634 FOUNDATION GARMENT Carrie L. Martin, 3424 S. Arlington Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.

Filed June 26, 1961, Ser. No. 119,364 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-441) This invention relates to improvements in foundation garments which are worn next to the body for the purpose of shaping the contour of the body .as desired. Hitherto, conventional foundation garments tend to unduly restrict the body movements and do not provide means for shaping the figure without excessive binding and cramping of the body. Furthermore, conventional foundation garments cannot be tailored to fit exactly the contours of individual figures which differ in shape for a given height and weight.

Therefore, it is an object of my invention to provide a foundation garment capable of shaping a persons figure with a minimum of restriction of body movements.

Another object of my invention is to provide a foundation garment which can be individually fitted to a partic ular body contour.

A further object of my invention is to provide a foundation garment which can shape a persons figure as desired without excessive binding and cramping of the body.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a foundation garment which does not require shoulder straps of any kind for support.

These and other objects will be more readily understood by reference to the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, in which FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of my invention illustrated on a persons figure.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view showing a portion of an embodiment of my invention in an extended position.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional View taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

The foundation garment has a body portion 12 and a brassiere portion 14. The body portion 12 consists of two front panels 16 and two rear panels 18. The panels may be made of any type of non-elastic material which is soft to the skin. The front edges 20 of the front panels 16 may be laced together by elastic or other lacing 22 which is threaded through a series of eyelets 24 provided in each front edge 20 of the front panels 16. For purposes of reinforcement of the front edges 20 and support of the foundation garment 10, the front edges 20 each have a stay 25 sewn therein. Additional support of the foundation garment 10 is provided by front stays 68 of the front panels 16 sewn therein.

The rear edges 26 of the front panels 16 are connected to the front edges 28 of the rear panels 18 by overlapping layers of strips 30 sewn at each end 32 of the strips 30 to the rear edges 26 of the front panels 16 and to the front edges 28 of the rear panels 18, thereby joining the entire length of the rear edges 26 of the front panels 16 to the entire front edges 28 of the rear panels 18. The strips may be made of any suitable elastomeric material, preferably of a rubberlike material. The strips 30 vary in length as required to closely fit the contour of a persons body or to shape a persons body in a particular manner desired by compression of the body under ten- In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in FIG- URE 2, the length of the strips increases as they approach the bottom edge 34 of the foundation garment 10. Ac-

cording to the contour of the body of an individual person, or according to a particular shape which a person 3,149,634 Patented Sept. 22., 1964 ice desires to acquire, the length of the strips 30 may be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the length of the strips 30 several times approaching either the top edge 36 or the bottom edge 34 of the foundation garment.

The rear edges 38 of the rear panels 18 are sewn together enclosing a vertical center back stay 40. Each of the rear panels 18 has a rear stay 42 sewn into it which is slanted towards the top 44 of the vertical center back stay 40, and a front stay 46 approximately parallel to the front edge 28 is sewn into each of the rear panels 18. All of the stays used in the foundation garment 18 may be made of any suitable stiff material.

Each top edge 48 of the rear panels 18 has a V-shaped vent 50 cut out of it between the front stay 46 and the rear stay 42 of the rear panels 18. Each of the vents 50 has a front edge 52 and a rear edge 54 which are connected by overlapping layers of strips 55 sewn at each end to the front edge 52 and the rear edge 56 of the vents 50. The strips 55 may be made of any suitable elastomeric material, preferably of a rubberlike material. The purpose of the vents 50 is to prevent fleshy portions of a persons back from bulging or sagging over the top edges 48 of the rear panels 18 when wearing the foundation garment 10. The width of the vents 50 may be adjusted as desired to control such bulging or sagging or to conform to the body contour desired to be achieved, with a corresponding adjustment in the length of the strips 55.

The brassiere portion 14 of the foundation garment 10 consists of two breast pockets 58 which are each formed from four individual sections 68 having approximately the shape of spherical triangles and sewn together at lines 62. The pockets 58 may be made from the same material as the body portion 12 of the foundation garment 10.

The pockets 58 have semi-circular bottom edges 64 which are sewn to corresponding crescent shaped top edges 65 of each of the front panels 16. Each of the bottom edges 64 of the pockets 58 has a semi-circular wire 66 sewn therein to provide support for the pockets 58. Further support for the pockets 58 is provided by the inside lining 70 sewn inside the pockets 58. The lining 70 may be made from any suitable stiff material. The wires 66 in conjunction with the stays 25, 40, 42, 46, and 68, and the lacing 22 provide sufficient support when the foundation garment 10 is being Worn so that no shoulder straps or other support of any kind is needed to secure the foundation garment 10 to the body of the person wearing it. The fastener 72 attached to the top of one front edge 20 of one front panel 16 connects with a hook not shown which is attached to the top of the other front edge 20 of the other front panel 16 to help secure the tops of the front edges 20 together.

In the use and operation of my invention, the foundation garment 10 may be worn as a ready made garment or it can be custom fitted to conform exactly to the particular contour of the person who is to wear it. Furthermore, the foundation garment 10 may be tailored to produce a body contour having different dimensions from those originally possessed by an individual, without causing undue or excessive binding or cramping of the body.

When custom-fitting is desired, the length of the strips 30 are adjusted to closely follow the particular body contour of the person. More or less standard size front panels 16 and rear panels 18 may be used. The stays 25, 40, 42, 46, and 68 may be adjusted correspondingly to fit the desired body contour exactly. When a body contour is desired which has different dimensions from the natural body contour of the person, the same process is used of adjusting the strips 30 to produce the desired body contour, as well as adjusting the stays 25, 40, 42, 46, and 68. In either case, when the foundation garment 10 is worn, the elastic lacing 22 in conjunction with the elastomeric strips .30 permits body movement and breathing with little or no binding, cramping, or restriction, while at the same time producing the desired body contour or conforming exactly to the natural body contour of the wearer of the foundation garment 10.

The elasticity of the lacing 22 and the strips 36 gently but firmly maintains the desired body contour without any discomfort to the wearer while the vents 50 with the strips 54 permit controlled expansion of fleshy parts of the wearers back without permitting sagging or bulging of flesh over the top rear edges 48 of the rear panels 18 of the foundation garment 10. Any suitable elastomeric material may be used for the lacing 22.

While I have described my invention in detail with reference to a preferred embodiment described and disclosed in the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it is understood that numerous changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

A foundation garment, comprising, two rear panels 4, with adjacent edges connected together and with nonadjacent edges converging toward the bottom edge of the garment, two front panels having a brassiere portion at the top of each and with non-adjacent edges converging toward the bottom edge of the garment, a series of overlapping elastic strips joining the front panels to the rear panels throughout their entire length, said strips being of varying lengths to follow a pre-selected body contour, V-shaped vents cut into the top edges of the rear panels and having edges joined by overlapping elastic strips, and elastic lacing securing the adjacent edges of the front panels together while maintaining the pre-selected body contour.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Christensen May 15, 1951 

